Super Junior rocks Singapore Super junior members perform for about 10,000 fans Saturday in Singapore as part of their “Super Show” 5. Super Junior enthralled about 10,000 fans at the Singapore Indoor Stadium Saturday, with the fifth edition of their signature “Super Show.”The group performed about 25 of its hit songs such as “Sorry Sorry,” “Mr. Simple” and “Sexy, Free & Single”.Starting from the 2008 solo concert “Super Show,” the group held three Asian and two world tours, performing in 79 concerts and attracting 100 million people overall.Super Show has a high reputation on its dynamic and organized program, and is put on stage despite the absence of some of its members. The group’s leader Lee Teuk and Hee Chul are currently doing mandatory military service.The “Super Show 5” was launched in March, taking the group members throughout South America, Indonesia, Hong Kong, and most recently, Singapore.Meanwhile, Super Junior will continue their “Super Show 5” by moving on to Japan’s TokyJul 8, 2013
More K-pop stars looking overseas Fans of girl group KARA are more likely to see the performance on a Japanese stage as the five members have focused largely on the Japanese stage, wherein lies the bigger profit in music. / Korea Times fileForeign markets emerging as bigger sources of incomeBy Park Jin-haiAs more K-pop stars surf the commercial success of the “hallyu” or Korean wave, the money they are making from sales abroad is rising significantly too. Two-member boy band TVXQ’s Japan Tour in the former half of this year sold tickets worth 100 billion won, gathering 880,000 fans throughout 26 performances. Also, Big Bang's world tour in the United States, Europe and Asia, has been seen by over 800,000 fans.One thing that is common from those stars is that they all ventured into overseas market on the firm foundation of domestic popularity. Girls’ Generation and 2NE1 are no exceptions.However, the new generation K-pop stars take another route. They either start their careers away from home or expand their overseas fan base without a matching domestic rise in populJul 8, 2013By Park Jin-hai
Hite Jinro guns for US beer market Koreas biggest liquor company Hite Jinro has launched a canned beer brand marked with the logo of Major League baseball team L.A. Dodgers in the United States.The new products, Dodgers Beer, are available in supermarkets and restaurants in L.A. starting last Thursday, according to the company.The city is home to one of the biggest Korean towns and Korean pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin who is playing for the citys baseball team. Hite Jinro entered a partnership deal with Dodgers last year and has since sold its name-sake beer at the teams stadium. In April, the firm made its signature products Soju, a distilled beverage native to Korea, available there. Under the partnership, Dodgers has installed promotional banners for the new beer.The public awareness of Korean beer and Soju is on the rise in L.A.thanks largely to pitcher Ryu, a Hite Jinro spokesman said. We will try hard to make Dodgers Beer available across the U.S. with various promotional campaigns. Jul 7, 2013
Actor Kwon to return to TV drama Kwon Sang-wooHallyu star Kwon Sang-woo will return to MBC’s drama series “Medical Top Team,” according to his agency Bell Actors.The drama will be directed by Kim Do-hoon who made the popular epic drama “The Moon Embracing the Sun” and will be aired in October. In the drama, Kwon will play the role of Park Tae-shin, a lead character who is superb in cancer surgery.The company said that it is the first time for Kwon to play a doctor.Meanwhile, top actress Lee Na Young who was on the final casting list decided not to appear in the drama.Jul 7, 2013
Slip of tongue or leak of inner voice? Seven-member hip-hop boy band Block B appeared in an interview with TV station RYT9 in January 2012. They got into trouble for their wanton remarks. Reckless remarks put celebs into trouble By Park Si-soo Kim Sung-kyu from INFINITEShindong, left, and Donghae from Super JuniorBoy band JYJStars cannot exist without fans. And they seem to be fully aware of this, given that they rather predictably always end their media interviews with the same old cliche, “I love you.”Ironically, there are very few people who believe their expression of love to fans is sincere in any way. This has got some people determined to verify the depth of this archaic self-professed love that celebs have for their fans. For instance, some bourgeoning entertainers have diligently tried to relate to their fans in a very real world situation through acts such as appearing on TV shows with no makeup and publicly discussing their voracious eating or bizarre sleeping habits.However, as the maxim everything has its dark side suggests, there is always someone who finds their aJul 7, 2013
Jang Keun-suk ad installed at Gimpo Hallyu star Jang Keun-suk has set up a personal advertisement at Gimpo International Airport to greet foreign tourists to Korea, according to his management agency Tree J Company.The mega sized ad banner carries his smiling photo saying “Jang Keun-suk Welcomes You" along with his own fashion brand name Zikzin and his official website.The company said that he made the ad by himself to show his appreciation of his fans' care and love for him.The ad which was released on July 1 will be on display for three months.Jang is a versatile star who is good at both singing and acting and extremely popular in Japan. He opened his own brand shop Zikzin in Shibuya, Japan in 2012. The shop is a new luxury store which sells various kinds of jewelry and fashion items designed with the letter Z.Jul 4, 2013
Detailed, fluent content key to Hallyu The manga section in a French book store is shown in this file photo. Japanese manga are popular among youngsters and many manga fans have transformed into K-pop fans, after they stumbled onto K-dramas that portray the same values as the original manga.Professor calls for incubation effort in bookProfessor Hong Seok-kyeong of Seoul National UniversityThe cover of Hong’s book “Hallyu in Globalization and Digital Culture Era.” The image features such names of K-pop stars asSHINee on a school bench at Magendie High school in Bordeaux, France./ Courtesy of Hong Seok-kyeongBy Park Jin-haiThe “unexpected” has the power to lure and that is the interesting part of the success of “hallyu” or the Korean wave.That’s how Hong Seok-kyeong, 50, a professor at the Department of Communication of Seoul National University (SNU), starts her book on the popularity of the genre. She says that nobody really expected it to be popular as its content was produced for the local market, unlike the Hong Kong popular culture that had a vast Chinese-speaking audienJul 4, 2013By Park Jin-hai
R16 Korea 2013 Finals in Seoul Poster for the R16 Korea World FinalsThe R16 Korea World Finals, one of the most prestigious B-boy tournaments and hip-hop showcase platforms in the world, will take place at the Olympic Park on July 13 and 14 in Seoul.Produced by Cartel Creative and hosted by the Korea Tourism Organization, the event will bring the most competitive, talented and internationally diverse selection of dancers, visual artists and musicians for two days through showcases, performances and battles.The R in R16 stands for Respect and this years tournament holds exceptional reverence for the competitors representing their countries as each crew and solo dancer fought through a series of country and regional battles in order to earn a spot and battle at the World Finals.World-class dancers, MCs, graffiti artists and artists from all corners of the globe will take part in the event along with performances by Jay Park, Salah, Jinjo Crew, Beenzino, Dumbfoundead and the Red Bull BC One All Star Team.Jul 3, 2013By Lee Jong-eun
Hallyu convention planned in LA Members of K-pop girl group 4minute wave to fans in this file photo after performing at the inaugural KCON festival held at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Irvine, California. / Courtesy of CJ E&MBy Kim Ji-sooIt’s a desired destination, an enigma and the largest music and cultural market. “It” is the U.S. market for K-pop and Korean popular cultural content sector.“The U.S. market is distinctive and different from the Asian market where the popularity of ‘hallyu’ or Korean wave is established,” said Kim Hyun-soo, general manager of the CJ E&M’s Global Festival Business.“Fans in the United States like to aggressively seek to find answers to what they are interested in, and we’ve decided that a convention was the key to responding to these fans,” he said.The company will be hosting the second edition of KCON in downtown Los Angeles Aug. 24-25 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.Different from last year where the convention was held for a day in Irvine, California, the convention will be held for two dayJul 3, 2013By Kim Ji-soo
Nigerian journalist urges literature exchanges Jerry Adesewo, freelance journalist and CEO of Arojah Concepts, talks about bilateral exchanges between Nigeria and South Korea in an interview at The Korea Times office in Seodamun-gu, Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Park Jin-haiJerry Adesewo was a Nigerian journalist covering the opening of the Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria when he discovered the beauty of Korea. Since making that discovery, he has become a Korea expert promoting bilateral cultural exchanges.“Korea and Nigeria are similar in that we have a rich cultural history, both intangible and tangible, and that is why we connect,” Jerry Adesewo told The Korea Times in an interview held Monday in Seoul. Now a freelance journalist and CEO of Arojah Concepts, the 37-year-old was on a 10-day visit from June 23 to July 2, upon the invitation of the Korea Culture and Information Service(KCIS)."Apart from India, Korea is the first Asian country whose dramas enjoyed such popularity. It was shown on Sundays and people wanted to skip church. That was my case, too. So later they changed the timing Jul 3, 2013By Park Jin-hai
